


Stars

by TheWalkingDino



Series: Rickyl one-shots [5]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Animal Walkers, Animals turn, Canon Divergence, M/M, Stargazing, What is the meaning of life?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 12:43:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10386903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalkingDino/pseuds/TheWalkingDino
Summary: When walkers were no longer a threat things only got worse. Rick and Daryl share a quiet moment, stargazing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters.

Rick was on watch. He sat on top of a broke down car, with his legs crossed Indian style, and fiddled idly with a bracelet he’d found on the side of the road. It was dark green yarn, woven into a braid. The ends of the yarn were frayed, and it was covered in dirt. He pulled it between his fingers mindlessly, staring up at the night sky. It was a black blanket covered in diamonds. That was possibly the only good thing the apocalypse had to offer. There was no longer that white noise, no more city lights to dim the sky. There was no more light on Earth at all. It seemed as though all of the planet’s lights floated into the sky, taking their places among the stars. Maybe, that was how it was supposed to be. The Earth had always been an inherently dark place, something as pure as light simply couldn’t inhabit it forever. 

The sound of a car door opening sent him spiraling into a sudden awareness of his surroundings. He grabbed his knife and prepared for a fight, but was able to let out a much-needed sigh of relief when he saw that it had only been Daryl getting out of the car. He closed the door and stepped on the hood, then pulled himself onto the top of the car. He mimicked the way Rick sat and quickly turned his attention to the same night sky that Rick had been lost in moments before. The stars shone brighter every night, like every night that the Earth decayed beneath them, they gained a reason to grow stronger. Now though, something just seemed off. No one could really determine if the stars were taunting them, or if they were trying to offer hope. There might once have been a distinct line between the two, but that line had now grown indistinguishable. 

The silence between them was typical. Words weren’t needed for them to express anything. They were just two men living in a dying world. They survived off of each other. They took each other’s despair and hope, then distributed it among themselves equally, so that no one man would suffer more than the other. When one found hope along with those essential cans of beans, he would offer a share of that hope to his counterpart. When one found guilt, no matter how he fought it, the other would take a portion of that guilt. 

Before the world ended, this moment would have at least had the sound of crickets chirping, filling the night with a song, but only the purest silence settled in the humid air. Even their breathing was so soft and steady that one could not hear the other’s borrowed breaths. All of their time was bought in a sick trade with the world. Each heartbeat had been bargained for. It was all limited. Everything would stop eventually. The toll of the world showed on their faces. It showed with frown lines and gray hair. It showed with void eyes and shaky hands. The lives inside the car they perched on were fought for. The precious lives in that box on wheels were paid for with an immeasurable amount of other lives, but that was okay. Everything had a price, and everyone had their time. 

There had once been bold talk of rebuilding. Everyone was so full of hope. The walkers were not a threat anymore. The living might all still be infected, but most of the dead were just bones now. When people died, it could be easily handled. Then the whole world ended again. A brutal slap across their faces. Rick could’ve sworn he heard God’s boisterous laughter after he ripped all the pure things left in the world away from them. It was the final stage, he supposed. It made sense that after dead people were no longer a threat, dead animals would become one. It made sense that what they needed to survive, to rebuild would become in itself their downfall. Of course, they would lose family to dead animals. Of course, a dead crow would sink its talons into Eugene’s face and peck his eyes out. Of course, they would find Tara pulled apart by dead cats. Of course, they would lose everything. Now the horses that were tied up mere feet from them could become deadly risks. That was how they lost a good portion of Alexandria. A herd of rotting horses. 

Michonne, Maggie, Carl, Judith, and three-year-old Glenn Hershel slept in the car beneath them. They were all that was left, and everyone knew that the debt of their lives could only be paid for by their lives. 

“You know how, even after all these years of the world being over, you’re still taken aback at just how bright those stars shine?” Rick broke that silence. 

“Yeah,” Daryl answered quietly. He grabbed the bracelet from Rick’s fingers and twisted it between his own. “I don’t see as many t’night.” 

“It’s all going, Daryl.” Rick turned to him, squinting his eyes in an attempt to better make out the features of Daryl’s face. They held each other’s gazes momentarily, each noting how even once vivid blue eyes had turned dull. Rick’s beard was gray with flecks of white, his face was aged and tired. Daryl’s face mirrored the same exhaustion, and his long hair was graying. 

“I know.” He tilted his head back to the sky and watched a star fade out of existence. He looked at the bracelet in his hand and grabbed one end with his other hand. He pulled the string taut and glared at it. One end of the bracelet, in his left hand, was neater. There was less dirt, nowhere near as many frayed ends as the right side. He brought the bracelet together in a circle and tied the ends together in a knot. 


End file.
